


Can't Do That

by Quiet_Shadow



Series: Experiment [2]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Angst, Implied or Off-stage Rape/Non-con, M/M, Missed Abortion, Mpreg, Other, Sparklings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-04
Updated: 2013-02-04
Packaged: 2017-11-28 05:19:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/670707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quiet_Shadow/pseuds/Quiet_Shadow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Companion piece to 'Experiment'.</p>
<p>After their rescue by fellow Autobots, Shockwave's test subjects aren't all well. Some of them deal with the new additions to their lives, and other... don't deal so well. Ultra Magnus should have known Hot Rod would do something stupid...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Can't Do That

**Author's Note:**

> A short fic in the same continuity as 'Eperiment'. Written when I had thought about making it a multi-chapters story. Finally, it stayed a one-shot, with this additional piece, using more familiar characters.

He shouldn’t have been surprised, really. From the moment the Autobots had rescued their comrades from Shockwave’s clutches, Ultra Magnus knew something was wrong with Hot Rod. Well, not just with the youngster, really; the other mechs and the femme who had endured Shockwave’s ‘affections’ weren’t exactly right in the head after... well, after.

On the whole, they had been well cared for, and aside from some programs installed to render them more sensitive to touch, Shockwave hadn’t messed much with their CPU. But then there was the sparkling matter.

The oldest mech, Tonic, and the femme, Harmonia, cared for their sparklings and had started light duty with the approbation of the medics. The two little ones, Crescendo and Pathmaker, were easily accepted despite who their other creator was.

Although they never said anything, Magnus could see it had been a big relief for the former captives to see that their offsprings were easily accepted and well cared for when they weren’t around.

But with Sunspear and Hot Rod, things were different. Magnus wasn’t exactly sure why, but he thought he understood the main problem.

Tonic and Harmonia had been older and more experienced, and had actually considered founding a family unit someday. They had dealt with the trauma induced by Shockwave’s frequent rapes and exams on their own during a long captivity, and once they had their sparklings, they had had something to focus on and avoid thinking too much about everything else.

Hot Rod and Sunspear... hadn’t dealt with anything so far.

Carrying? Any Autobot would have said they were too young for that. Hot Rod had never dated someone seriously – although his occasional relationships with both Springer and Arcee could evolve this way – and Sunspear had never really thought about interfacing nor creating a new life, period.

The purple Decepticon certainly hadn’t thought they were too young, though. Magnus swore he was going to rip off Shockwave's optic the next time he saw him.

Neither courier nor soldier had dealt well with the news that they were expecting Shockwave’s sparklings when Tonic had tried to break the news to them gently. And they had been near tears when they had learned that they would have to carry them to term despite the circumstances.

They had obviously taken the news rather badly, even if they had initially tried to hide their distress.

Magnus just knew sooner or later, one of them would do something drastic if nobody watched over them.

Still, he had a shock when Kup commed him half an orn sooner, telling him that Hot Rod had to be dragged to the Medbay because he had done something really stupid.

Yes, Ultra Magnus thought grimly as he entered the Medbay, he would definitely kill Shockwave himself if he ever had the chance.

“How could you try... No, how could you even think to terminate your own pregnancy, Hot Rod? You know how much we value life...”

As soon as he said that, Magnus knew he had made a mistake. Hot Rod’s strangled sob was just the first clue. Autobots valued lives in any form, and terminating a pregnancy outside of serious medical problems was at best frowned upon or severely reprimanded. Had they still been in the Golden Age, Hot Rod could have faced charges.

But the sparkling hadn’t been wanted in the first place...

It was a special case, yes, and not exactly an uncommon one in those dark times. Magnus could very well remember at least three other cases on this base since the start of the war. Still, there was a major difference; wherever the first cases had been what one could call random and performed on prisoners, Decepticons seemed to now target younger Autobots on battlefields, searching to take them captives for... nefarious purposes.

Dimly, Magnus wondered how many mechs and femmes had been listed MIA and were now Shockwave’s unfortunate ‘guests’, for he couldn’t be quite sure that the four they had rescued had been the only captives. Or perhaps he was being too paranoid, but the matter was too serious to be set aside without second thought.

Sunspear, Harmonia, Tonic and Hot Rod were living proofs of that fact. Speaking of Hot Rod...

The red Autobot looked up for the first time, but his hands remained on his abdomen. Ultra Magnus frowned at what he saw. Hot Rod had always been a youngster full of life, never losing hope even in the direst situations, but now...

He seemed to be a pale copy of himself, a painted drone that acted like him in public, but a hollow shell when nobody was looking.

“Now, I know exactly what happened, since Kup and the grey and lavender nurse – what is her name again?” he asked Hot Rod, not really expecting an answer.

“Mandrel,” muttered Hot Rod tonelessly, being acquainted with the Minibot nurse since he had been dragged in the Medbay the first time after his return.

“-since Kup and Mandrel pestered me about your ‘brilliant idea’ all the way from my office to here. However, I want to hear from your own vocalize how you managed to be discovered passed out in your quarters after drinking chemicals,” finished the bigger mech sharply.

Hot Rod smiled sadly at him. “It seemed so simple,” he said softly, and Magnus wasn’t sure he had heard him until the red Autobot continued: “I did some research and found that certain chemicals found in refined energon can provoke bad reaction on a developing sparkling if taken in undiluted, massive quantity. And with what I drunk, my systems should have malfunctioned and ended the energy transfer toward the reproduction chamber. It should have worked. I should have been rid of... it. So why?” he asked pitifully. “Why did I fail?”

Ultra Magnus stared at him gravely.

“Hot Rod... I don’t know what you read, but you probably never consulted medical reports in detail. True, it could have worked... had the developing spark not been already past 70% of his completion,” he explained patiently, having consulted Hot Rod’s medical files and suffered a long debriefing from the various medics and nurses on the base. “You can’t stop the gestation now, outside of surgery. And no medic will grant you this right, since every single exams show that you are healthy, and that the sparkling is healthy as well,” he said quietly, stressing the word ‘sparkling’. Hot Rod needed to understand he was carrying a sentient being, not a drone.

The commander resumed his description of what he knew about Hot Rod’s condition. “You are entering the last part of the reproduction cycle. Soon, the sparkling’s spark will be fully developed. Then he – or she – will absorb metal from any unnecessary part of your internals to create his basic frame, and he will be ready to be taken out of your chamber. That’s why you were feeling tired these last few days,” he added, thinking about a short meeting he had with the youngster a few orns earlier.

Hot Rod, head down, said nothing, but made soft sound that Magnus identified as muffled sobs. Awkwardly, he patted the younger mech’s helm. Hot Rod jerked away from him, refusing to even glance at him. Magnus sighed.

“Giving birth is fairly easy...” he started to say in an attempt to reassure the younger mech. But he wasn’t so sure of what he was saying in the first place, having never bared a sparkling himself.

Hot Rod wasn’t hiding his fear and distress anymore. He was openly crying, now. “But I can’t do that, Magnus. I just... can’t.”


End file.
